Development of a portable system for swallowing evaluation

在吞咽的口腔阶段，舌头起主要作用，适当的舌头动作是形成团剂并将其转移到咽部的必要条件。在目前的研究中，我们开发了一种安全、方便的客观评估舌运动并与吞咽时喉部抬高相协调的系统。该系统通过两个应变片压力传感器记录舌压，两个应变片压力传感器在沿腭中线放置的铜带上相距20 mm。喉部振动是用压电式加速度传感器记录的。测量前后探头压力开始的时间差和喉部振动产生第一个尖峰的时间差以及每个探头的舌压。30名健康受试者被要求吞下10毫升的水。前探头压力先于后压190±101ms(T1)。喉部振动发生在加压开始后437±162ms。对26名知情同意的志愿者进行了吞咽检查，并进行了视频透视。T1值与摄片评价的口腔过渡时间呈正相关(r_S=0.494，P=0.0134)。结论：即使数据有限，该仪器也能成功、方便地显示吞咽功能的某些方面，并引入新的舌压参数。

At the oral stage of swallowing, the tongue plays a major role and proper tongue performance is necessary to form the bolus and transfer it to the pharynx. For the present study we developed a system for safe and handy objective estimation of tongue motion and coordination with laryngeal elevation at swallowing.The device records tongue pressure by means of two strain gauge pressure transducers aligned 20 mm apart on a brass strap placed along the palatal midline. Laryngeal vibration is recorded with piezo-electric acceleration transducers. Time differences between pressure onset at the anterior and posterior transducers and the first spike from laryngeal vibration are measured together with tongue pressure at each transducer.Thirty healthy subjects were asked to swallow 10 ml of water. Pressure onset at the anterior transducer preceded posterior pressure by 190 ± 101 ms (T1). Laryngeal vibration occurred 437 ± 162 ms after the onset of anterior pressure. For 26 volunteers who gave their informed consent, swallowing was also examined with videofluorography. There was a correlation between T1 and oral transition time evaluated with videofluorography (r_s = 0.494, P = 0.0134).In conclusion, even the data is limited, the device successfully and easily revealed certain aspects of swallowing function with new parameters for tongue pressure.